Just Tell Me
by SassyJ
Summary: AU. Phil never left, and he's got a new girlfriend. Can Sam, Stuart and Terry save him from himself. SP obviously , some JS too. Rated T because there will be adult content.
1. Chapter 1

_Can he admit that he's made a mistake, and can Sam save him from a terrible fate..._

* * *

Phil studied himself in the mirror as he shaved, the bruise under his eye was black and blue, _it was just an accident, Jenny just caught me in the face with her elbow._ It didn't look good, and he was wondering if there was a way he could cover it up. He shrugged, _ I walked into a door._

He finished shaving and headed back to the bedroom, bent over the sleeping form of his new girlfriend, _god she is so gorgeous, _he dropped a kiss on her bare shoulder. He was finally getting his life together, committing to a relationship. He felt good about it. For a moment he considered dropping the towel and climbing back into bed with her. But he was going to be late and he was in enough trouble with his new DI as it was.

_DI Sam Nixon._ Whichever way he looked at it, she still had the power to rock his world. _I'm with Jenny now..._ He smiled, life was coming together.

Sam Nixon looked at her watch and frowned. Phil Hunter was late again. She looked up, and there he was, strolling in as though it was no big deal. She was getting really fed up with him challenging her authority. They had been lovers once, but this was work, and she wasn't letting him get away with it, Stuart had got the message, and he was keeping a suitably respectful distance in work at least. _Why can't Phil just give it up..._ Sam honestly didn't know what made her more angry, the casual way he was behaving, or the way he seemed to have put her out of his life, when her head was still full of thoughts of him.

That idea just made her feel more angry. He was all wrong for her, she'd finished with him, and she was the one who was supposed to walk away unscathed, and it really annoyed her that he was so calm and detached about it.

"Phil, a word." Her tone was stiff, and cold.

"Ma'am." _Even his response sounds disrespectful._

She closed the door behind him. "You're late. Again."

He looked at her with that knowing expression, and she could feel her anger rise, the desire to shout at him. _I shout, he wins._ She held on to her temper. "Don't let it happen again. Next time, you can explain to the DCI why your work holds so little of your attention."

His smirk was really too much. "Yes, Ma'am." Something in the way he said that, made her simultaneously sound like his maiden aunt, and a schoolgirl.

"Go. Before I forget myself."

He ambled out of the door. Turned back to wink at her. _Damn it._

Sat down at his desk, shuffled paper, aware that her eyes were on him, maintaining the cocky and distant front for her was difficult, but he had a new girlfriend and a new future, and he needed to put thoughts of Sam out of his head. _How to do that, when she's in my soul..._ He kept his head bent over his paperwork, sure that if he looked up and saw her watching him, he wouldn't be able to look away.

* * *

Stuart looked across at his arch rival. Noted the shiner. _What's that, the second time in two weeks he's come in with a black eye._ Something about that piqued Stuart's curiosity. Phil got on his nerves, but the guy provided the main challenge in the office, and Stuart liked having one over on Phil.

Terry Perkins had also noticed. Something about the bruising on his Sergeant's face rang a nasty little warning bell in the back of his mind. Knowing Phil and his penchant for getting involved with other men's wives, he'd figured a jealous husband or boyfriend had blacked his eye for him, but this was the second time in two weeks, and something about it looked a bit odd. Aware that the others would think his idea was mad, he decided to stay quiet. _It could be coincidence._

* * *

_Jenny was upset, and I got in the way. She was devastated when she hurt me, it wasn't her fault._ Phil looked at the bruising under his eye, this was worse than the last time, his eye was nearly swollen shut, the side of his face bruised. He needed to cover it up a bit, otherwise there would be questions. He fished around in her make up drawer, and came up with a concealer stick, _this should do the trick,_ he touched up the bruising down the side of his face, he couldn't do much about his black eye, but if he got in early enough, and kept moving he was sure he could pass muster. _Just have to keep moving around so that no one gets too good a look._

This time Terry was certain he couldn't keep quiet. Phil Hunter's fidgeting around had made him more suspicious. So he watched him closely, noted the bruising under his eye, down the side of his face. _Somebody's given him a beating. By my count that's the third time in a fortnight._ He noted Stuart Turner watching Phil too. And that decided him, casually he walked over to Stuart's desk.

"Sarge, can I have a word?"

Stuart looked up at him, "Sure, Terry. What's on your mind?"

"Not here." Terry looked round, the briefing room was empty. He inclined his head towards it. Stuart got his drift, and followed.

"It's DS Hunter. I'm not sure, but I think he's become a victim of domestic abuse."

Stuart looked somewhat surprised and cynical "I doubt it. He's probably got a jealous boyfriend or husband chasing him."

"No. Look at him." Terry jerked his head in the general direction of Phil's desk. Stuart looked, noted the black eye, the bruising, the bad attempt to conceal the damage. Now Stuart didn't like Phil, and would go a long way to aggravate him if he could, but this was something quite different.

"What do we do about it?" for once Stuart wasn't thinking of himself.

"I honestly don't know." Terry was drawing a blank on this, but they had to do something. "We'll have to watch him, follow him, I don't think confronting him will work."

Stuart nodded slowly. The idea of following Phil Hunter in his private life didn't hold that much appeal. "I think we need to get an okay on this from the DI."

Terry scowled, _why I picked DS Turner, god knows._ "This isn't some kind of points scoring thing."

Stuart had the grace to look a bit ashamed, because that thought had occurred to him, but this was different. Phil was in trouble, and some pretty nasty trouble too.

"No. I need to tell her."

Terry didn't look particularly mollified.

* * *

Talking to Sam about their suspicions was surprisingly difficult. Stuart admitted to himself that the idea that Phil was the victim of anything was pretty much a non starter. But he had to try.

Sam heard him out in silence.

"We think he's being beaten up by that new girlfriend of his." It sounded a little lame even to Stuart's ears.

Sam looked at Phil, noted all the things that she would have seen before if she hadn't been so angry at him. The bruising on his face, the black eye, _oh Phil..._ Part of her wanted to go and soothe his troubles away, part of her was angry at him for getting into this mess.

"So what's her name."

"Jenny something, some kind of model, he's been hanging around with her for just over a month, and he started getting the bruises about two weeks ago."

"Dig around, find out about her," Sam turned and looked him straight in the eye "and Stuart, be discreet, and absolutely no glory boy stuff, this is a fellow officer we are talking about."

Stuart didn't know whether to be jubilant that he could run with this, or annoyed that Sam would think that poorly of him, even as he admitted that to a certain extent she was right, he would have enjoyed having one over on Phil. _Except this one isn't something where I would dream of doing that._ Somehow this one was going to be bad, he could feel it.

Stuart wasn't usually given to premonitions, but he shivered, _something just walked over my grave._


	2. Worst fears realised

_Something nasty..._

* * *

Jenny Carter was an up and coming model. Twenty four years old, six foot tall, she had something of a reputation as a fierce competitor with a noted temper. Stuart and Terry had been hanging around studios and model agencies all day, talking to as many people as they could, the consensus so far was that she was hot tempered, but unlikely to be deliberately violent.

It was nearly the end of the day, and so far they had almost nothing. Terry sighed, _perhaps it is all in my imagination, perhaps Phil is fine and the bruises on his face are just accidents. Accidents do happen._ "Yeah, right." he muttered to himself. Phil Hunter, while being a disaster prone, trouble magnet, was not usually accident prone or at least not to the extent that he would have three different sets of bruising on his face inside two weeks. Terry fished in his pocket for the list that was being constantly redrawn, as he and Stuart plowed their way through talking to people who knew her. The latest name to be added was a certain Joe Small, a lighting rigger who had known her for some time.

Seeing Stuart engaged in what was ostensibly an interview, _but looks more like a chat up line to me,_ Terry sighed again, it looked like he was going to have to go in search of Joe himself.

* * *

"So, what would you like to know?" Joe Small was a bit of surprise, Terry had been expecting the hip relaxed style which seemed to be a uniform amongst the people from the model world, Joe was a cultured and extremely well dressed young black man in his middle twenties.

"Anything you can tell me about Jenny Carter, I have some information which says you know her well."

A cold look entered Joe's eyes. "I know enough not to become involved with her." His tone surprisingly sharp.

Terry leaned forward, he was on to something and he knew it. "What makes you say that?"

Joe reached into his pocket, pulled out his card case, extracting a card, "This is not my story to tell, and if you can get him to talk about it, you will know all you need to about Jenny Carter," he scribbled a name and address on the back of the card, handing it to Terry he paused, "Tell Mike that I sent you, and that I say that it's time something was done, and he should speak up. It's been long enough."

Terry frowned, went to say something.

Joe looked him in the eye. "I can't tell you, because I only know from the outside. Mike can, because he was there. Just talk to Mike."

"Okay." Terry held out his hand, "thanks for your help."

Something very like worry passed across Joe's face and was gone in a flash, Terry couldn't even be certain that he'd seen it, but it sent a shiver up his spine.

"She's involved with someone, isn't she?" Joe's quiet question shook Terry. The doomed tone told him that he was right and something was very, very wrong.

"Sarge, it looks like we're going to Brighton in the morning." Terry waved the card with the handwritten address on the back.

Stuart looked at it, and frowned slightly, he would have to clear it with Sam, Brighton was not exactly their jurisdiction.

* * *

The address in Brighton was a small, dark basement bar and sometime night club. The cleaner pointed them to the bar at the back. A stocky young man was re-stocking the bar. He glanced briefly at their warrant cards, and continued filling the fridge.

"What do you want to know?" His question was casual, but something about the tone made them exchange glances, _bingo._

"Anything you can tell us about Jenny Carter." Stuart spoke for both of them. "For instance, does she have a hot temper?"

"Oh you could say that." The self irony was almost painful to hear. Mike bent his head forward, "you say Joe sent you, and he said I should tell my story?"

"Yeah." something about this was making the hairs stand up on the back of Stuart's neck, he shivered again, cold in spite of the stuffy darkened room.

"Jenny grooves on pain." Mike stood up, "and she enjoys hurting people. Enjoys the sympathy she gets when her boyfriend gets hurt, the hospital visits, the whole nine yards."

He turned around to face them. "Let's just say, that when I first met Jenny... both sides of my face matched."

Stuart and Terry gawped in horror. It was bad, the scar ran from above his left eyebrow, right down to his jaw line, and he'd lost the sight of his left eye. _Oh my god..._

"It starts out as the odd punch, which may just have been an accident." Mike continued, the stress evident in his voice, "by the time she reaches this stage," he put his hand up to his face, "you're in denial, you're getting beat up on a daily basis, you're black and blue all over, and the pain never goes away, and besides" the bitterness in his tone all too apparent, "who are you going to tell? The Police? You're too proud, and they wouldn't believe you anyway."

"I assure you..." Stuart cleared his throat, tried again "I assure you that we take it very seriously." Just looking at what that woman had done to this young man's face made him feel sick, _what if she tries to do something similar to Phil, or perhaps worse._

Mike seemed to read his thoughts, "she dumped me when she realised that I wasn't completely blind. She wants the long term sympathy vote, a devoted boyfriend who can never leave her. And trust me when I tell you, she will go all out to achieve her aim."

Stuart and Terry knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wanted to harm Phil, hurt him so that he would stay with her forever, and their blood ran cold at the thought of what she might do to him.

"She's with someone, isn't she?" Mike looked at them.

"Yes." Terry answered. Knowing there was nothing else he could say that would make it better.

As they turned to go, Mike spoke again. "Thank you for believing me."

* * *

Outside on the pavement, Stuart phoned Sam. Impatiently he waited for the numbers to dial, it seemed to take a week, before he heard ringing... _come on, come on, Sam pick up will you..._ he fidgeted about on the pavement.

She answered.

"Sam, it's not good. Phil's found himself a genuine nutcase..." Stuart rapidly explained their conversation with Mike.

"But Stuart, it is his word against hers," Sam argued, "are you sure he's not spinning you a line?"

"With half his face destroyed?" Stuart snorted, this was not the time to be playing devil's advocate, with Phil in the hands of the devil herself. "He has nothing to gain by saying what he did, and quite a lot to lose."

"Okay, you need to tell Phil."

"Why would he believe me, Sam. He already thinks that I'm the enemy" Stuart felt quite guilty about that one, he hadn't exactly helped on that front. "I think you should talk to him. He'll listen to you..."

Sam sighed, she had her doubts about that one. But she had to try. "Okay Stuart, I hope you two are on your way back now."

"Yes. See you in a couple of hours."

"Bye." Sam rang off.

She looked across at Phil, _well here goes..._

She walked round her desk, and pulled the office door open.

"Phil, a word please."


	3. Falling Out

_Misunderstandings lead to potential disaster..._

* * *

Sam waved Phil to the chair opposite her desk and closed the door behind him. Moving back to her own chair gave her a few seconds grace, because she had no idea how to bring this up.

"Phil, you know you can talk to me if you've got a problem?" there, she'd said it.

"Problem?... There's no problem." Phil managed to look as though he didn't have the slightest clue what she was going on about.

"Phil ... your face... your eye." Sam swallowed, her unlucky star led her to say "we've all noticed."

"We... what we?" the tone of his voice warned her, _wrong, Sam, wrong..._ His eyes narrowed. "Have you been spying on me?"

"Not spying... we're worried about you..." Sam faltered, the look in his eyes was hurt as well as angry.

"So you still don't trust me." Phil snarled, "you still see me as a liability..."

"Stuart and..." as soon as she said his name, she knew that she'd blown it, Stuart had been right, Phil saw him as the enemy.

"STUART..." Phil was on his feet, "What's loverboy got to do with it..." His eyes narrowed, "or is this about us," suddenly he wanted to hurt her, as he'd been hurt, every hurtful thing he could think of just exploded in his brain because he still wanted her, still needed her and he'd lost her and he had thought nothing could hurt more than that until this moment, "I've moved on and you just can't stand that..." He yanked the door open, "well thanks for nothing," he muttered bitterly, "think I'll pass."

"Phil..." it was too late, he was gone, but she said the word anyway "wait."

For a moment, she was too buffeted by the storm of emotions that broke over her head, both hers and his, because she still loved Philip Hunter, with all her heart. She was too old for this, she couldn't face any more stress, and she'd thought stability was more important. So she'd pushed him away and it was her heart that was broken in two.

Sam dug deep and found her reserves, the things that kept her going, because whatever he thought of her motives, she knew he was going to need her. She gathered up her coat and her keys.

"Jo, are you busy?" She paused by her friend's desk, she'd picked Jo because there was no one she wanted by her side in a crisis more than Jo. And this was a crisis.

* * *

Stuart planted his foot, and watched the speedo needle rise. They were heading back to London, and Stuart wanted to make up time up the M23, before the traffic built up too badly, he had a really bad feeling about this.

At any other time Terry would have said something about DS Turner's speeding, but he had the same premonition of doom that had hit them the instant they'd seen Mike's face.

* * *

Phil walked into his flat, dropping the keys on the small hall table, "Jenny, babe, are you home?" he wandered into living room, picked up the stack of mail and idly leafed through it. His mind was still whirling from his encounter with Sam, so distracted that he didn't sense the movement off to his left, the sap rose and fell, hard behind his right ear. He fell like a stone and lay unmoving, not even when the toe of a boot was driven with considerable force into his ribs.


	4. Falling Down

* * *

_The nightmare begins...  
_

* * *

They'd been to Phil's place, but he wasn't there. Sam still had a key, she'd forgotten she had it until clearing out her handbag a few days before, and she'd meant to give it back to him, but somehow this hadn't happened. She was glad of it now, when they knocked and got no answer, on impulse she'd opened the front door and gone in. Jo pointed out Phil's keys on the hall table, Sam's heart sank, _he would hardly have gone out without his keys,_ instinct was telling her that there was more to this than met the eye. It was all too tidy, but something about the scene in front of them simply didn't add up.

_People don't vanish into thin air._

* * *

In his sometimes inglorious career Phil Hunter had been shot, beaten up and been through enough hostage situations to last a lifetime, but this was different. He knew a least a couple of ribs were broken, and his right forearm, when he'd flung up a hand to protect his face from a punch. Two thugs, and they were concentrated on hurting him, Phil was frantically replaying his case load in his mind, the key to survival was going to be working out what they wanted from him. The fear niggled away at the back of his mind, that he should have listened to what Sam had to say to him instead of flying off the handle and not letting her finish, because this wasn't about his cases, but someone who wanted to really hurt him.

The punch that slammed into his back, just above his kidneys, dropped him to his knees, and the kick sent him sprawling. The wind knocked out of him, he was unable to resist as one of the goons cuffed his wrists then secured the cuffs to a ring in the wall with a cable tie. Then they just walked away.

Phil tried to ease himself further back against the wall, anything to take the strain off his injured arm, and his ribs. He wasn't into boxing, but he knew that the punch to his lower back was designed to do painful damage to his kidneys, _shit, it's really done its job. _ The deep seated throbbing lancing through his lower back told him that.

He shivered, the bare concrete was cold and they'd taken his coat and jacket at some point. _Oh god, Sam, I'm sorry I snapped at you, it was only because I love you still, and can't get you out of my head... Sam, please save me._

* * *

The beautiful weeping young woman was pouring her slightly incoherent story out to PC Diane Noble. Apparently the flat that she shared with her boyfriend had been broken into, and ransacked, and her boyfriend was missing, and there was blood...

Emma Keane stood to one side and radio'd it in. Sergeant Callum Stone picked up on it straightaway.

"Em, say again, what's the woman's name..."

"Jenny Carter, sarge."

"That's Phil Hunter's new girlfriend." Callum Stone wasn't a man given to paralysis in any situation, but for what seemed an interminable moment, he froze.

"Em, you and Diane wait there with her, I'm sending someone to get you." He yanked off his headset and headed for CID at a run.

Jack Meadows heard him out in silence. And knew without a shadow of a doubt that Callum was right. Phil was in trouble.

Jack sighed, slightly irritably, Phil Hunter was a talented officer, with a genius for sailing close to the wind, and an even greater capacity for getting himself into really deep, really hot water. And this time Meadows' years of experience and gut instinct were telling him that Phil might not come out of this one so easily.

* * *

He called Neil into his office, Sam was out, and he knew that Sam and Phil had a long history. Jack didn't want to put that kind of pressure on her, not because he doubted her capabilities, but her personal involvement with Phil meant that she would be personally involved. Jack looked at his two sergeants, _Stuart would be the best choice_ he decided.

Jack put his head out of his office door, just in time to see Stuart and Terry enter CID.

"Stuart, a word please."

Stuart gave Terry a strange look, "Yes, Guv." He followed Jack into his office.

"Stuart, Phil Hunter's girlfriend, Jenny Carter has reported a break in at their flat and Phil is missing, I need you and Stevie to work this one with Grace and Terry..." he trailed off, Stuart had gone white.

"Guv, that's what we've been looking into." Stuart hurriedly explained where he and Terry had been, Terry's suspicions, the interview with Joe Small that had led to Mike Chaplin, Brighton, and that Sam and Jo had gone looking for Phil.

Neil was inclined to be a little skeptical, as Sam had been. "Trust me Guv, this guy was not making it up."

"But he would have an axe to grind?" Neil's calm exterior was doing nothing for Stuart's stress levels, he wasn't used to not being believed.

"Guv, you had to be there. The guy's had half his face ripped up like someone's taken a can opener to it, he's genuine. I'd stake my life on it." Stuart wasn't used to pleading and that came very hard.

"Well you could be staking Phil's life on it." Neil was still skeptical, but Stuart's utter belief in what they'd uncovered was hard to shake.

"Guv, how are we going to handle this?" Neil turned to Jack, "if Jenny Carter is behind it, we can't go in and investigate her full force without tipping her wise, and if she's got someone else involved, Phil could be dead before we get anywhere near him."

Jack thought about it, there were many downsides to splitting the team, not the least lack of manpower to cover the real investigation. "We split the teams, Neil, you take Max, Stevie, Grace, Kezia and Mickey, and you cover every inch of Jenny's trail. Keep her busy, if this is all about her wanting some kind of twisted limelight, give it to her, just don't let her out of your sight."

He looked at Stuart, wondering if this ask was just too big, "Sam will have to lead the other investigation, so Stuart, it's down to you, Terry and Jo to find Phil."

This was big, something Stuart had dreamed of for quite some time, pulling off a big coup, now it was here and he was dreading it. _Be careful what you wish for,_ right now he wished he had. It had been bad enough when Jo had gone missing all those months ago, but this time he didn't have the big back up, and Phil _and Sam,_ would be relying on him to come up with the goods. For the first time his cocksure style completely deserted him. He needed Jo.

Not quite in command, he nodded "Guv, I won't let you down."

Jack looked at him, "It isn't me, you would be letting down."


	5. Risking it all

_The race is on..._

* * *

Sam was doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Neil had found Phil's flat totally trashed, which Sam knew had not been the case an hour before. Blood splatter had been found on a handkerchief, for which Neil had demanded the test results yesterday, and the lab had just confirmed, it was a match for Phil's records.

She was running extremely low on inspiration. She wasn't alone in that, Stuart was struggling, fear of letting Sam down, and Phil too, wasn't exactly helping. Jo took him to one side. "Stuart, you found me, you can do this." He wasn't buying it. She looked around, they were in the corridor, in the station, and until right now they'd kept their personal lives far removed from this place. She put her arms round him and hugged him, "come on, hun. Show us all that you really are as smart as we all think you are." He leaned into her, buried his face against the side of her neck and hugged her back with a fervour that had Jo wishing that she would be able to breathe again.

Stuart took a deep breath, Jo was, as always, a great source of inspiration. Only this time it was his search for her that was replaying in his head. "We found you, because of the photo shoot Rachel Inns did of Cindy. Jenny Carter hasn't lived here that long, she's from a small town about thirty miles from Brighton, so she's unlikely know this area well. What if, it's a location she's used before?"

* * *

Phil tried to ease himself into a new position. Everything hurt like hell, but he needed to stay awake. Going to sleep might literally be the death of him. And Phil didn't want to die, not like this._ Not without telling the woman I love, how much I love her, and need her and want her... and I really don't care about anything, just as long as we can be together._ That the woman that he loved had a petite figure, blonde hair and bright blue eyes, he had not the shadow of a doubt. Phil groaned, he'd spent all that love wasting time with a woman who really didn't mean anything to him, trying to forget the one he had loved and lost.

He pushed backwards with his legs, trying to get himself into a sitting position, and nearly passed out from the pain that lanced through his right arm and wrist, biting his bottom lip with the effort not to cry out. _Definitely broken._

He tried to work out where he was. It was somewhere cold and very damp, he could hear water. There wasn't much light, and not many other clues.

The ring in the wall that he was attached to was large and solid, _iron, looks like something that they tie ships up to._ Then he noticed something very unwelcome, the concrete he was sitting on and the walls were damp, but there were signs of a water level too. Well above his head. Drowning was something that until now had not occurred to him. The cold grey walls seemed mock him, and Phil desperately tried to twist round to break the cable tie holding his cuffed hands to the ring. The pain that shot up his already badly damaged wrist like a bolt of lightening, short circuited in his already overwired brain, and he fainted.

* * *

Stuart laid his idea out before Sam. For a long moment, he thought she was going to reject his idea, but it had already worked once, why wouldn't it work a second time, they were the only ones who knew how Jo had been traced. He waited in a fever pitch of anticipation.

Sam mulled it over in her mind. It seemed a little obvious to her, but it was a shot, and they didn't have anything else. She nodded. "Run with it."

Terry and Jo were out the door before she'd finished speaking. She looked at Stuart, desperation in her eyes, "I hope you're right..."

Stuart tried very hard not to feel elated. This case had so much riding on it, his emotions were all over the place, and the one thing Stuart really hated was feeling out of control. Sam's good opinion counted for a great deal. Whilst Phil was his nemesis, rival and the main competition in the place, Stuart admitted to himself that he didn't want him to come to any harm. Stuart was more used to being the lone wolf than the team player, but his time at Sun Hill had had a profound effect on his outlook, _and Jo, as well._

Two and a half hours later, and he, and his colleagues were not so sure. Jenny Carter had been photographed in an awful lot of places. What seemed like hundreds of warehouses, estates, hotels, bars, gardens, the list was endless. Even narrowing it down to the most likely and most abandoned, this left the four of them with a great deal of ground to cover.

Sam looked at what they had to do, and decided that they had to take the risk, four of them could cover more ground separately than as two teams, but that left any one of them exposed to danger if they weren't careful.

She addressed her troops. "If you find anything, radio it in, and wait for back up..." she stared at Stuart, "no glory boy stuff. This isn't a competition."

Stuart actually felt hurt that she was still thinking that way about him, and determined to prove her wrong. Jo looked across at him, noted the expression on his face, and sighed. He'd made such a dog's dinner of his personal relationships at the station at the very beginning, that even now the repercussions of his overconfidence had the power to hurt. Part of her wanted to give him a hug, the other half wanted to point out that Sam's attitude was mostly his fault.

* * *

Phil came to slowly, his wrist felt like it was on fire, and he struggled to move to take as much of his weight off it as possible. He finally managed a half kneeling, half sitting position which took the weight off his wrist, it was far from comfortable, but he was grateful for any small concession right then. The pain rocketing through his right wrist put all the other aches and pains his abused body was suffering in the shade.

He looked around him, his predicament was dire. _Come on Sam..._

* * *

Sam Nixon was drawing a blank, she'd checked out several of the locations on her list, was more than halfway through and had nothing to show for it. Worry creased her brow, if this didn't pan out, they had almost nothing. _Oh Phil... where are you?_

She pulled over, and began to ring round the other three, they were running out of options and she needed a progress report.

* * *

Stuart pulled up at the empty warehouse by the river, a dreary bleak place, deserted for years, he didn't get why they'd chosen it as a location, it was just so miserable. He shivered, the wind bitingly cold, getting back in the car and heading to the next place seemed a rational choice, but he needed to be sure.

The building was damp, water dripped from the ceiling, and there were many levels to check. _This place gives me the creeps._ He moved through the building and found a staircase to another level, it seemed like no one had been there for years, and he was tempted to go back to the car. But Sam wanted a thorough job and it was Phil's life at stake.

He cautiously descended the stairs, it was gloomy and he could hear the sound of his own heart beating as he made his way from room to room... nothing.

He was about to leave this cold and dark place, when he noticed a small corridor off the last room he looked into. Stuart crossed the floor cautiously, and moved into the dark small space. It led to another room, with some other space beyond that. He could hear the sound of water, and was about to leave, when he heard another sound, movement. Hoping fervently that it wasn't rats, he entered the small dark room.

"About bloody time!"

"Phil." Stuart stepped forward and fumbled in his pocket for the handcuffs key

"What kept you?" Phil ached every where and his wrist and ribs were killing him, but the sense of relief and the desire to wind his rival up were too good to miss.

He looked up and a flash of movement caught his eye.

"Mate. Watch out."

Stuart half turned, and put up his right arm.

The hunting knife flashed downwards.


	6. Surviving the Storm

"Sam...we lost Jenny Carter."

For a few brief seconds Sam froze. The implications of Neil's call almost too much to take in.

"Any ideas?" Sam's lower lip trembled, this was turning into a nightmare of vast proportions.

"Not a one." Neil admitted heavily.

"I need to call Stuart and the others."

* * *

Stuart managed to block the knife's downward path plunging straight towards his heart with his forearm. The blade sliced deeply into his arm. Blood spurted from the wound, and he staggered backwards. She came after him, knife raised to strike again, only this time her aim was off, and the knife plunged into his right arm for a second time. He had one chance and Stuart didn't need a second telling, twisting away, he punched her hard in the face with everything he had left. She went down like a felled tree. And he sank to his knees, panting.

"Stuart..." Phil looked at his friend, "come on mate, we have to get out of here before she wakes up."

Stuart felt completely spent and his arm was bleeding badly, but the instinct for survival was strong. He got slowly to his feet and staggered over to Phil, reaching into his pocket with his good hand and handed over the key for the cuffs. Moving awkwardly because he was right handed, Phil managed to unlock the cuffs, and pushed himself to his feet, with a real effort. The pain that lanced through his back and ribs was unbelievable, but at that point survival beat out any pain he was suffering.

"Mate, you can surely pick 'em." Stuart cradled his bleeding arm, yanked a handkerchief from his pocket and awkwardly tried to tie it round the wound on his elbow and forearm. It felt like hell.

Phil scowled, "well here's hoping that you don't punch like a girl."

"Let's not wait around to find out." Stuart bent down to recover the knife, using the evidence bag to pick it up. "Can you walk okay?"

It took most of Phil's strength just to lean against the wall, and he seriously doubted he was going anywhere without some kind of support. It was his right arm and right side that were damaged, Stuart moved to stand next to Phil and hooked his bleeding right arm round Phil, and Phil put his left arm around Stuart's shoulders. Together they staggered somewhat drunkenly out of that cold miserable place. They had no idea how long they had, but if she caught them their chances of fighting her off were rapidly diminishing.

* * *

Sam rang Jo and then Terry, they'd both drawn a blank, _only one hope left, Stuart._ She dialled his number... voicemail ... impatiently she dialled again ... ringing and then Stuart's voice announcing that he wasn't available and to leave a message. A sense of foreboding made Sam ring Neil.

"Neil, can you get a trace on Stuart's mobile. He isn't answering."

She had a really bad feeling about this.

* * *

Their hiding place was rubbish and Stuart knew it, but they had little choice, just getting up the steps into the main factory had taken almost every ounce of strength that either of them had left. He could hear her footsteps somewhere out there in the darkened space and knew she was probably between them and the door out.

"YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FOREVER"

_But there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start_. Stuart nudged Phil gently, "we need to move, she's getting closer."

"Can't make it mate." Phil coughed, his sides heaving to get his breath. Just getting this far was pushing it well beyond the limits of what he could give.

Stuart's head was pounding, and his vision was blurring, and he knew he didn't have much left either, but he wasn't going to leave Phil. "We have to stick together..."

Phil grunted, what little reasoning power he was capable of at that moment said that having got himself and Stuart into this, the least he could do was try to get them both out of it. Making the supreme effort, he hauled himself upright, dragging Stuart with him. Propping each other up, they crept along the wall, heading for the exit.

They had nearly made it out when they heard the shout behind them, then all was confusion, more shouts from outside, crunching tyres and sirens. The pounding of feet.

Then the blessed relief of Sam Nixon, glaring at them both. "What the hell do you think you were doing?"

"My job." Stuart's voice was barely above a whisper. Shock and blood loss took over, his eyes rolled up in his head and he subsided into a pair of arms extended to catch him as he collapsed.

"SOMEONE GET AN AMBULANCE!" the voice above his head seemed oddly familiar, as did the gentle hand pulling his jacket off; confused sounds all around, sound of a knife falling to the floor, a loud ripping noise as someone ripped his shirt sleeve up, a dull throbbing pain as pressure was put on the deep gashes in his arm, Stuart was past caring, on a very basic level he knew exactly whose comfortable curves he was leaning against, he leaned into her and just let go.

When Stuart collapsed, Phil nearly went too. Only Sam's arm latched firmly round his waist kept him upright. "SOME HELP HERE PLEASE." As she struggled to hold on, he outweighed her by a considerable amount, then Neil was there, propping up his battered sergeant from the other side.

After the ambulance crew had taken over, and were loading Stuart into the ambulance, Jo picked up the evidence bag with the knife. Meadows approached her, and she handed him the bag "it's covered in blood, and I'd stake my reputation that that's Stuart's blood."

Jack Meadows peered closely at his DC, Jo Masters was one of the most level headed, gutsy ladies he'd ever come across, but she sounded just a bit weepy, "are you alright, Jo?"

"Fine." her tone sounded a bit firmer but hardly convincing, "Sir, can I go with him to the hospital?"

"Yes, yes..." he murmured, slightly distracted by a sudden thought _Stuart and Jo? Impossible._ He shook his head, _ridiculous, it's just concern and a bit of shock._ He waved her on her way.

Sam Nixon was holding Phil Hunter's hand and Jack had no doubt that she would be going in the ambulance too. He knew a little something of their long and complicated history, and knew that Sam wouldn't just abandon him to the tender ministrations of St Hugh's. And Jack had something important to do. He looked across to where Neil was pushing Jenny Carter into the back of the car. _Right. We do this right for Phil and Stuart._

* * *

Facing Jenny Carter across the interview table, Jack Meadows was struck by the dead look in her eyes, as her smooth brief shuffled papers in his briefcase.

Then the rat was speaking, "Gentlemen, I have two words." He paused for dramatic effect. "Police Brutality."

Neil Manson's jaw clenched. Stress boiled to the surface and with a deceptively icy calm, he placed the bagged hunting knife on the table, "would that be before or after your client stabbed one of my officers with this, witnessed by another officer" He fixed the creepy weasel with his iciest stare, "her fingerprints are all over this knife, the blood on it has been confirmed as being Detective Sergeant Stuart Turner's blood, and the two stab wounds correspond exactly to this knife. I have two officers in a serious condition in hospital, both of whom are extremely lucky to be alive."

Neil's voice was as cold as frost on the ground, "I think you and your client should re-evaluate your position."


	7. Winner Takes All

Past midnight and they were alone in the hospital room. That was fine by Phil, he wanted the time to replay his moments with Sam in his mind. It was almost worth feeling this grotty just for the playback. Sam had sat by his bedside and held his hand, in fact she'd been there through the examination, the setting of his arm, strapping his ribs and, most humiliating of all, when they'd inserted the catheter, Phil winced at the memory of that. Strange hands, pressing down on his groin, handling his privates, the pinch of the tube being pushed into his bladder, Phil had hated the whole hideously embarrassing and slightly painful experience, but Sam had been there for him, gently stroking the side of his face, keeping his view blocked as the nurse carried out the procedure. He'd clung to her hand, unaware of just how much the fear and pain in his eyes was affecting her.

Even through the miserable round of indignities visited upon his person, Phil had time to feel a touch smug that Stuart was going through the same embarrassment and discomfort, being handled like a piece of meat... having a tube shoved up a very private place indeed . But then that thought was wiped away by Sam gently kissing his forehead, and stroking his hair, muttering nonsense to him... and then, she was the last one to leave, that she'd kissed Stuart on the cheek before going, Phil could ignore. His friendly enemy had, after all, saved his bacon in the nick of time, _and_ _it was just gratitude._

The door opened quietly, and someone tiptoed past his bed.

For a second, Phil froze, then incredibly he heard Jo's voice in a whisper, "Stuart, hun." Phil lifted his eyelids just a fraction, just in time to see something truly unbelievable, DC Jo Masters leaning over DS Stuart Turner, dropping a gentle kiss onto his forehead. Stuart slid his left hand into her hair, pulling her closer, and turned something that was pure comfort into a heating seeking missile of a passionate kiss. When they broke apart, Stuart whispered "Stay..." Jo glanced at the other bed doubtfully, "he's asleep... he'll never know."

She nodded, "okay, for a while..." Phil heard two muffled thumps as Jo's boots hit the floor, then the unmistakable sounds of bed springs and movement, he waited until things quieted down again, and cautiously took another peek. Jo had slid up behind Stuart, he was turned towards her, his head resting against her shoulder, her arms were around him and they were cuddled up in that intimate way that lovers in serious _lurve_ had. Then Jo rested her cheek against the top of his head, Stuart's eyes closed, and he snuggled closer. The beds were only a matter of four feet apart, and despite the gloom Phil could clearly see the contented expression on the younger man's face. His mind was reeling, but this was pure gold, _he'd definitely struck the mother lode here._ Phil was happy to acknowledge that Stuart wasn't that bad really, the guy had risked his own life to save Phil's and that did count for something, and he could appreciate the spice that their rivalry gave every chase, but having a little something extra on cocky smoothie Stuart was too good to miss, knowing that Stuart's attentions had moved on was another big bonus and something about this highly unlikely relationship struck a romantic chord in Phil. He could see Jo in partial profile, and this was clearly more than some kind of fling, especially when she dropped another tender kiss on Stuart's forehead.

Phil smiled, despite pain, considerable discomfort, humiliations and his new found resolve to be a bit nicer to his friend the enemy, this was total office gold, the diamond to end all diamonds. He could even appreciate the irony, he was supposed to be the office sex addict, it appeared that he was not the only one with some fairly imaginative moves. _Gotcha!_


End file.
